WCP549

[1]

[in ARW’s hand] Answd

West Cottage

Wimbledon Common

Jan 15^th 1913.

Dear Sir,

Will you allow a stranger to congratulate you on the completion of your ninetieth year? You are no stranger to me, for as long ago as 1875 I had the pleasure of studying your book on the Malay Archipelago¹ and using it as guidebook when going from Singapore to Australia by the Torres Strait Route. I cannot tell you how [2] that Book interested me and my husband in the islands & volcanos as we passed them, for we were only 3 days out of sight of land the whole way to Albany.²

On Jan 8^th of this year I read the article "Ninety Years of Science"³ and it brought back the memory of those happy days & made me long to tell you of the enjoyment you have given [3] to others and I rejoiced to think you had been spared to continue your valuable works —

I hope therefore you will forgive the liberty I have taken in writing to you.

I am, dear Sir | Yours faithfully | Annie Loftus Lowcock⁴ [signature]

[4] [in ARW’s hand] Annie L Lowcock